12Common Mistakes

In CorporateSustainabilityCommunications

No Flavor

Companies produce materials with no

personality.

Jake Przespo flickr.com/photos/jakeprzespo/

Insert Logo Here

Logo?

Logo?

Logo?

Half the time, you could switch out the company logo for another company and no one would notice.

When you infuse your content with your brand’s flavor the people who resonate with your brand will be happy to consume it.

Report(the dreaded)

Speak

*Also known as using a lot of words to say very little.

*

Dense reports with stand-offish language are all too common in the sustainability realm.

They’re a particular problem in today’s online world.

With the sea of information on the Internet, you’ve got seconds before the next wave hits.

To communicate, you first have to engage.

So make it

clear.

Photo credit: Vjeran Lisjak freeimages.com

And provide value.

Puffery Beware the ‘we’re so wonderful’ talk.

As far as any real sustainability is concerned, our actions are in the early stages.

Photo Credit: Chris CjVision Flickr

Be humbleand avoid puffingyourself up.

Instead, consider how you can make your stakeholders the heroes.

Humanize your content

Lack of Clear Communication Goals

Clear communication goals provide a competitive edge and generate

messages thathit the mark with

your audience

LBecause if you don’t

know what you’re aiming for, how can you expect to hit it?

Too

Even Shakespeare built comic relief into his dramas.

Heavy

Aim to people up, not weigh them down.

lift

On the other hand, it’s not all

rainbows and roses either.

Put your information in context of the larger global issues we’re facing. Show how your actions fit into the greater scheme.

And you should be honest(which should probably go without saying).

Aiming to please everyone results in being bland and inauthentic.

(Sustainability just makes you a little better you).

You need to be

who you are.

Aiming to PleaseEveryone

Stakeholder engagements and materiality assessments should be used to help you understand your stakeholders interests, the language they use and the problems they face daily, so you can better engage them.

Communicate from strength, not from fear.

Middle of the road communications are reactive. You spend your time trying not to be run over.

SpewingFacts

andFigures

You can’t just throw a bunch of information at people and expect them to understand. Be their

guide.

Help them navigate the landscape. Provide wayfinding devices. Give them a trail map.

What are you communicating and why?• What story are you telling? • What is there to see? • What does it mean? • What’s the bigger context?

Over-extended statements (like these company samples) sound like platitudes and put you in greenwashing danger:

Platitudes

‘We care deeply about people and our planet’

‘Our programs make an impact throughout the world’

‘our products provide environmental sustainability’

‘The very core of our company is sustainability’

‘putting people first’

‘helping to protect the environment and scarce resources, now and for future generations’

Craft messages that can stand a little heat without melting.

Greenwashing TestIf you can’t clearly demonstrate it, don’t say it.

If you write sustainability propaganda, you miss the chance to connect with your audience.

No

We connect and care through our emotions; if there’s no emotional connection, there’ll be little engagement.

A good way to create connection and personality is by expressing your

values.

Heart

ImageFail

The Internet has created an age of visual communication.

Images should reinforce your message, not just be ‘pretty’ placeholders.

Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text

Too much text Too Much Text Too much text Too much text Too much text

Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text

Too much text Too much text Too much text Too much text

You may have brilliant stuff, but if no one reads it, you

have a

failure to communicate.

Even in a report, walls of text are imposing.

This is an age of learning to communicate differently. The old rules no longer apply.

They cause people to click away.

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